Turning 18

Yesterday Sarah turned the very important age of 18 which formally makes all of our children "adults". We celebrated the night before with a family and friends dinner and heaps of photos as usual!...Love this one...Girls with Kelsie and Teagan..

We had a lovely meal followed by birthday cake...The next morning on Sarah's actual birthday we were up early to open presents...

I was very happy that she loved the quilt which she had started years ago and I finished for her...

Take some more photos...

Sing "Happy Birthday"...

Then her friends Emily, Georgia and Amelia arrived and they all left for Perth. They spent the day/night at The Big Day Out concert and stayed the night in Perth.A great day out for Sarah to celebrate her 18th birthday!

January Happenings

Peter started off the new year with a new look. After 26 years with a mo he suddenly decided to shave it off! The girls had never seen him with out it and after mixed reactions we agreed it makes him look younger...Peter had a few days off work over New Year and got busy painting all the gutters...

Sarah, Peter and I went for a day trip down to Margaret River and had lunch at Ollio Bello which was very nice... We visited a few other places before going into Margaret River where Sarah and I had a good time in the health food shop. We then went The Berry Farm for afternoon tea. It was a lovely setting and Sarah fed some of the wild birds sugar...Janelle came home from her trip to Bali while we were down south and was feeling very unwell with Bali Belly. Sarah went out to a Angel and Demons party that night ...The next night we had Janelle up at the hospital emergency dept with chest pains, nausea and dizziness. We were told to go home after a checkup and take panadol. She had a huge sweat and still wasn't well but still went to Geraldton to do the Aboriginal women interviews for uni. While up there she suffered terrible headaches and came out in a rash. Blood tests when she came home revealed she had contracted Dengue Fever in Bali coupled with Bali Belly - no wonder she felt so sick!!

Peter and Gordon finally got to go on their fishing charter trip off Mandurah. After being cancelled twice already it was a relief to see them go! It was along day and Peter was very happy to catch this Dhu fish (Gordon not so happy)...

I got the cleaning urge and spent a few days in my room sorting and tossing (always feels good)...Janelle bought me a pasta machine for Christmas and we had fun making pasta for the first time...It was very sucessful and I think it tastes much better than the dried package pasta - just a little time consuming to make...Janelle had a much shorter break this year and the time had come to pack everything up again and head back to Trinity. She is very lucky to be sharing an appartment this year which is quite spacious...Sarah had a few days off work so she made a snap decision to take a trip to Esperance. She caught the train to Perth and stayed a night with Janelle then caught the bus to Esperance. She had a nice time playing with Lisa and Toby, hanging with Poppy and visiting her favourite beach - West Beach...With Sarah away I did hours of sewing trying to finish her quilt for her upcoming birthday...

We went to Busselton on Australia Day, Janelle was in Perth and Sarah in Esperance. Nicole and her friends went to Ants new house to party. Their Aust Day parties always involve water...Sarah was very happy to be accepted into Nursing and then even happier when ECU offered her a scholarship for her great school academic results. We went and picked up her books for first semester...